Incorporators for Salad Dressing

Odd bottle #2.  Once the dressing for the salad was made, it was put in a bottle or poured down the side of the 'salad dish', to be mixed only when ready to eat, according to William Kitchiner.  He specified “an Ingredient Bottle, - These are sold at the Glass Shops, under the name of Incorporators,— we recommend the sauce to be mixed in these, and the Company can then take it, or leave it, as they like.”  [The Cook's Oracle by William Kitchiner.  London: 1822]

An American cookbook, The Cook's Own Book, by Mrs. N. K. M. Lee (Boston: 1832) copied the popular Kitchiner's recipe.   Twenty years later another author suggested keeping the dressing in an incorporator or “pour this sauce down the side of the salad-bowl.”  [The Ladies' New Book of Cookery. Sarah Josepha Buell Hale.  NY: 1952]

Generally, authors advised to pour the dressing into unspecified bottles.  “Salad Cream, or Dressing. When well mixed, put it into bottles that are perfectly clean and dry, cork very closely, cover the corks and tops of the bottles with bottle cement, and keep in a dry and cool place. It is better to have small bottles than large ones, as frequent opening of a bottle is to be avoided.”  [The Family Economist.  London: 1851]

The image above is a Roman artifact “…resembling the modem incorporator, used for salad-dressing, is given in the cut annexed.”  [A Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon and other Antiquities, discovered at Faversham...  by Charles Roach Smith, Victoria and Albert Museum.  1871]

The Cook's Oracle by William Kitchiner.  London: 1822 --

"Endeavour to have your Salad Herbs [lettuce] as fresh as possible: if you suspect they are not 'morning gathered,' they will be much refreshed by lying an hour or two in spring water; then carefully wash and pick them, and trim off all the worm-eaten, slimy, cankered, dry leaves, and after washing, let them remain a while in the cullender to drain; lastly, swing them gently in a clean coarse napkin;—when properly picked and cut, arrange them in the Salad Dish, —

mix the Sauce in a Soup plate, and put it into an Ingredient Bottle, (These are sold at the Glass Shops, under the name of Incorporators,— we recommend the sauce to be mixed in these, and the Company can then take it, or leave it, as they like.) or pour it down the side of the Salad Dish, — and don't stir it up till the mouths are ready for it.

… Let the Sauce remain at the bottom of the Bowl, and do not stir up the Salad till it is to be eaten."

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And odd bottle #1? - the odd Codd bottle.  Finally, couldn't resist.  For the previous post:  HERE

©2013 Patricia Bixler Reber

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